That's the story of the day along the NH coast as a huge, record
breaking migration of Caspian Terns took place today during the stormy
weather with SE winds.
I didn't get to the coast until late and didn't start looking for
Caspian Terns right away. So it really took me by surprise when I was
driving north at about 10:45 AM along Hampton Beach when a HUGE flock of
16 Caspian Terns flew over the buildings along the strip. I quickly
pulled over by Great Boar's Head and saw another flock of 5! I knew it
was going to be a good day, so I called Jane and she quickly got up at
12:30 PM.
We met up at Ragged Neck at Rye Harbor State Park and found shelter at
the rest rooms and sat there and watched a parade of Caspian Terns fly
by. I ended up with a total of 82 birds in 4 hours! With migrating
flocks as follows:
16,5,2,3,3,2,12,4,7,2,7,7,4,2,4,2.
All groups of two (even within flocks) appeared to be an adult and a
juvenile. It is very obvious that juveniles migrate with the adults and
the babies can be heard making squeaky begging sounds as they flew by
with the occasional rasp of an adult. Curious why only a single adult.
Does the male depart without the female and young?
Things really slowed down by 3 PM so we headed home. As we traveled
south on Rt. 1A we stopped at Eel Pond where I had a personal high count
for Eel Pond of 10 (!) Caspian Terns on the pond. Not migrating, but 7
were sitting on the pond while 3 were foraging over the pond! Amazing!
Otherwise, it was a great day for migrating Lesser Black-backed Gulls
and Laughing Gulls. Below is my total of MIGRATING BIRDS only.
